The Pleasant View Historical Association received $943,000 from the federal government to preserve and restore a former segregated church and one-room schoolhouse in Quince Orchard that will be used to show future generations what transpired there.
U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. David Trone, D-6th, presented an oversized check for the work at the site of the former Pleasant View Methodist Episcopal Church, the former Quince Orchard Colored School and the Pleasant View Cemetery, all located on Darnestown Road in North Potomac.
The three-acre property was purchased three years after the Civil War ended for $54.
At least four people who attended the school, including 104-year-old Ida Pearl, came to the ceremony Monday.
In the future, the church will be used to hold historic records and also be a site for weddings and other church and community activities.
Thompkins Hallman, 99, attended school there and was a World War II veteran who serving in the Pacific. He recalled the school, which had 190 students and went through sixth grade, and the potbelly stove it had.
Esther Lyons, who also attended the school, said, “It just brings back a lot of memories.” She added that she was very pleased that others in the area will learn what took place on the site.
There were three United Methodist churches in the area, two serving white congregants and one for African Americans. They split over their views on slavery and eventually merged soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
I was honored to deliver $943,000 in Community Project Funding to the @theQO_Project with @SenatorCardin and Senator @ChrisVanHollen. When I visited Pleasant View last May with Reverend Gerard Green and his son Jason, it was clear we had to work together to protect this history. pic.twitter.com/2o5Pk5gkXY
— Rep. David Trone (@RepDavidTrone) May 1, 2023
With the buildings deteriorating, this funding will preserve critical pieces of history and allow our kids to visit these places. Originally purchased in 1868, this schoolhouse was built to provide Black Marylanders with an education and also served as a church and social hall. pic.twitter.com/PvAwYVlNrB
— Rep. David Trone (@RepDavidTrone) May 1, 2023
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